Stock Rotation Hits Megacaps as Apple Sinks 3%: Markets Wrap
Wall Street traders gearing up for this week’s Federal Reserve decision kept driving a rotation out of the tech megacaps that have powered the bull market in stocks.
As bets on a half-point Fed cut on Wednesday kept growing, money continued to flow into economically sensitive corners of the market and out the perceived safety of big tech. Apple Inc. slumped 3% after a closely followed analyst warned that demand for the iPhone 16 Pro has been lower than expected. While the S&P 500 saw a small loss on Monday — most of its shares were up.That’s largely due to the weakness in the tech behemoths that dominate the S&P 500. Meantime, its equal-weighted version — one that gives Target Corp. as much clout as Microsoft Corp. — hovered near its all-time high amid hopes the advance will broaden out.
“We remain positive on equities,” said John Stoltzfus at Oppenheimer Asset Management. “The broad rotation which began in the rally from last year’s S&P 500 low has deflected volatility repeatedly evidenced on a day-to-day basis since the lows in early August. Pullbacks experienced thus far this year have mostly looked like “trims” and “haircuts” for the S&P 500.”
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%. The Bloomberg “Magnificent Seven” gauge of megacaps fell 1.2%. The Russell 2000 of small firms was little changed.
Treasury 10-year yields declined two basis points to 3.63%. The dollar hit the lowest since January.
Corporate Highlights:
Intel Corp. has officially qualified for as much as $3.5 billion in federal grants to make semiconductors for the Pentagon, according to people familiar with the matter, after the chipmaker reached a binding agreement with US officials.
Colgate-Palmolive Co. was downgraded at Wells Fargo to underweight from equal-weight.
Bausch + Lomb Corp. climbed after a report that the eye-care company is considering selling itself to disentangle from its debt-laden parent company.
Deutsche Bank AG is exploring options to make it harder for UniCredit SpA to buy Commerzbank AG as it considers how — or whether — to react to a potential deal that would create a huge competitor in its home market, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Key events this week:
Germany ZEW, Tuesday
US business inventories, industrial production, retail sales, Tuesday
Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
Fed rate decision, Wednesday
UK rate decision, Thursday
US US Conf. Board leading index, initial jobless claims, US existing home sales, Thursday
FedEx earnings, Thursday
Japan rate decision, Friday
Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 11:02 a.m. New York time
The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.1%
The MSCI World Index fell 0.1%
Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.2%
The Russell 2000 Index was little changed
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1124
The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.3198
The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 140.41 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 3.7% to $57,607.6
Ether fell 3.6% to $2,277.61
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.63%
Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.12%
Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.76%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $70.10 a barrel
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